Hormone Havoc

We have a generation of people who have been poisoned by artificial hormones, hormone havoc. From their teenage years many women have taken ‘the pill’ were initially delighted that they were able to gain control over such an important part of their lives. It did liberate women to a certain point, but then enslaved them again when some discovered that they couldn’t conceive naturally after taking it or that later in life they suffered from hormonal imbalances and cancer.

The artificial hormones we have been taking by the ton are excreted in urine and become environmental poisons within our food and water chains so that not just the women suffer – men are getting more breast, testicular and prostate cancer, than ever before. It is time to stop. Our systems have been unbalanced by these foreign hormones so we often need help to detox and get back on track.

So, where did it all go wrong?

Normally Oestrogen and Progesterone are finely balanced in the human body. Oestrogen is not a single hormone but a group of at least 24 types. It is not merely a ‘sex’ hormone and there are oestrogen receptors throughout the whole body including the vital organs, brain,heart and liver. Some of these oestrogen hormones are stimulating and some protective. We know that Oestriol E3 – the type that is most dominant during pregnancy – is cancer protective whereas Oestradiol E2 is the one predominantly implicated in increased cancer risk. Progesterone is made from a sterol called Pregnenolone which is made from Cholesterol. It is made in the ovaries of menstruating women, in small amounts by the adrenal glands in both sexes and in the testes in men. It is a precursor of testosterone, all the important adrenal cortical (stress and anti-inflammatory) hormones, and also of oestrogen. Besides its main functions during conception and pregnancy Progesterone has many intrinsic effects on metabolism, cell oxygen levels, cancer prevention, normalising levels of blood sugar, zinc & copper, blood clotting and it is a natural antidepressant.

Oestrogen stimulates cells called osteoclasts that travel through bone removing the old, weakened bone and leaving little spaces behind. Progesterone stimulates cells called osteoblasts that fill the holes with new bone and the whole balanced system supports repair and ongoing strengthening of our bones. Osteoporosis is bone loss due to a relatively high level of osteoclasts (oestrogen) activity without the balancing effect of osteoblasts from progesterone.

For years the pharmaceutical industry has focused on talking about and replacing oestrogen in the body and ignored progesterone. Progesterone cannot be given by mouth as it is rapidly broken down in the liver and by injection it is locally irritating and painful.

When they first gave women artificial oestrogen, usually Premarin that came from horses urine, sales rocketed over about 5 years. Then it was discovered that a percentage of women were developing Endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the womb). This doesn’t happen in women who have balanced hormones and so a synthetic drug called progestogen was added to try to balance the synthetic oestrogen.

So then the Oestrogen myth was up and running. Supposedly the panacea for all women’s problems, it would keep them young, healthy and feminine for years. Many doctors even “threatened” their patients ominously with predictions of heart disease and osteoporosis if they didn’t take HRT, regardless of any predisposition for either, mine certainly did.

Now women are becoming more informed and frequently choosing alternatives to synthetic hormones. There are many good books on this subject, (see links) and some people do well with herbal remedies, diet and lifestyle changes. if your body is showing signs of oestrogen dominance (or unopposed oestrogen) then you may benefit from a natural progesterone cream that is simply massaged into the skin. It is well absorbed this way and can redress the balance gradually over a few weeks or months.

Symptoms of Oestrogen Dominance

Acceleration of the aging process

Allergies

Auto-immune disease like Lupus

Breast tenderness

Decreased sex drive

Depression

Fatigue

Fat gain – especially around the abdomen, hips and thighs

Fibrocystic breasts

Foggy thinking

Headaches

Low blood sugar

Increased blood clotting and risk of DVT or Stokes

Infertility

Irritability

Memory Loss

Miscarriage

Osteoporosis

Premenopausal bone loss

PMS

Thyroid disfunction that mimics hypothyroidism

Cancer of Uterus or Breast

Fibroids

Water retention and bloating

Western women tend to have a 10 – 15 year period prior to menopause when they are oestrogen dominant they are suffering from many of these symptoms and some doctors are giving them more oestrogen. Much research and many books have been written on this subject over the last 25 years but still women are being diagnosed and treated with the wrong hormones and many of them are suffering from breast cancer.

0 thoughts on “Hormone Havoc”

Hi there,
Thank you for all the info. It can be very confusing at times. All
this list of symptoms are also from gluten intolerance/sensitivity
which all disapear when a person stears away from gluten completely. The reader at the end just gets more and more
confused and ends up doing very little. Its overwhelming.
I had the climaterium when I was 35 years old after a miscarriage, also common in the gluten intolerant women.
It’s a loooong story, but after a few years of Premarin I got
pregnant and my daughter was born. She is 12 years old and doing very well. Had hyperactivity, mood swings, never slept well, just to name a few. We decided to remove gluten/dairy/soy and it all fell into place. Hard to believe.
Allergic people are more prone to environment assalts, toxins,
mental illness, immune and neuro diseases, hormonal imbalance…and so on.
I had to share this with you.
Best,
Regina

Hi Regina,
Thanks for your comments. I am also intolerant to wheat (rather than just gluten)and also oranges, cows milk and soya and I do think that the 2 are linked but the other way round. Progesterone can be converted to Cortisol in the body therefore when your progesterone levels are low you get symptoms of inflammation. I had a hysterectomy at 34 after having 3 children and within a few months I had lots of joint pain with swelling, headaches, fibrocystic breast disease and digestive problems. When I started on Natural Progesterone supplements all these symptoms went away and my food intolerance problems did too. I can now eat these foods in moderation and I only use a small amount of Progesterone cream for 3 weeks at a time. I also eat a lot of anti-inflammatory foods( flax seeds, fish oils, green vegetables and take a probiotic as often it is inflammation in the bowels that leads to food intolerance due to a leaky gut. Natural Progesterone also helps protect against osteoporosis, heart attacks in women and offers some protection against breast cancer by blocking oestrogen receptors so that xenoestrogens cannot be taken up. We have a generation of overweight women with arthritis, a high incidence of cancers and a poor quality of life for whom life could have been better if oestrogen dominance hadn’t been ignored or treated with more oestrogen. It is a subject that I am passionate about so I’m sorry to bash on about it!

It will no doubt surprise you to get a reply to your comment 4 years later but I have reached the same place via a different route and just started blogging again. Today I am starting a Gluten Free Summit for Women (there is a link in todays blog) it is free and it should contain some very up to date information from many Doctors and Nutritionists at the top of this field at the moment.